How I'm Trying to Handle Idyllic Christianity

8/14/2019 How I'm Trying to Handle Idyllic Christianity

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How I Am Trying to Handle

Idyllic ChristianityRob Wilkerson

January 9, 2010

Legalism is like a chameleon. It may take on various colors, but its still the same slimy lizard.

One of its colors is what Ive come to call Idyllic Christianity, or a Christianity largely

built off of ideas and ideals. It all starts in such a subtle way, and usually in a way we

can all relate to. Idyllic Christianity is a form of legalism. It has a strange heartbeat

and personality. Outwardly, it seems at times to be magnetically attracted to a

desire for holiness. But inwardly its out to enslave and thereby destroy my conscience.

Its almost hard to explain how it works in this particular way. But gimme just a few

minutes, and Ill try to make sense of it in order to expose it and rescue you from it.

In myfirst post on this subjectI used pretend names of people to protect the innocentand the guilty. In this

post Im gonna use real namesof people I know personallyin order to reveal my own penchant for l egalism.

So lets start with my dear friends Gary and Cindy Perez, because they represent the two pillars of Idyllic

Christianity in this post: ideal friends and ideal practices.

I met Gary through our mutual association with the Association of Charismatic Reformed

Churches (ACRC), a fellowship of independent local churches committed to most things

reformed and charismatic. As Ive grown to know and love Gary, and as hes come to be

sponsored by our local church for ordination into ministry, there is this side to the Perez

family that is terribly attractive to me. In short, it is a passionate desire to be pleasing to

God and to glorify Him at all costs. Gary and Cindy are ideal friends, from a Christian

perspective.

So far so good, right?

I mean, think about it for a just a minute. If you claim to be a Christian, but dont desire to please God or glorify

Him at all costs, then youre probably not a Christian. Thats part and parcel of the package. God doesnt come

and live inside you for you to please yourself. He regenerates you, doing a spiritual heart transplant, and

transforms you inside-out, which tends to have this radical reorganizing effect on your life called submission to

King Jesus.
http://www.robwilkerson.net/2008/09/biblical-gospel-is-only-cure-for.htmlhttp://www.robwilkerson.net/2008/09/biblical-gospel-is-only-cure-for.htmlhttp://www.robwilkerson.net/2008/09/biblical-gospel-is-only-cure-for.htmlhttp://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.charismaticreformed.org/http://www.robwilkerson.net/2008/09/biblical-gospel-is-only-cure-for.html


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Anyway, if theres something Ive loved about Gary and Cindy from the

start it was the way their marriage operates around the Word of God

and prayer. They get up each morning at 5:30 am and after readying

themselves for the day, they spend time in prayer together, and then

get to work. Later in the evening, they spend time reading and

studying the Word together. Gary and Cindy have an ideal practice in

their relationship with each other, from a Christian perspective.

Oh, how that appeals to me! I love Gary and Cindy, and my heart is

thrilled with much passion when I hear (and have personally observed)

their humble reflections and explanations of their lives.

Still good so far, right?

But watch out! Because it is precisely at this very moment that you may be able to spot that sneaky little

chameleon showing its head spyingwatchinglisteningobservingbut not acting in anyway just yet. It

waits for me to make the next move, one that will be my spiritual undoing, heaving me into pit of despair and

discouragement.

As I ponder the ideal practices of the lives of my ideal friends, Gary and Cindy and how they seem to operate

with a successful degree of biblical unity between them around the things of God, I grow jealous

internallywishing my marriage worked that way. Oh, we read the Word together, and pray together. But not

like Gary and Cindy, you dont!, I hear in the background of my mind. Wouldnt you love to spend time with

Sherri the way Gary does with Cindy? Why, sure I would!, I answer myself. Thatd be awesome!

At this precise moment, the chameleon of legalism seizes the moment, and

jumps into action, taking on the color of holiness in marriage. And do you

know what the technical, official name of this color is? Comparison. Thats

right. If the chameleon had a box of crayons to choose from, and eachcrayon had a name on the little paper label, this label would read

comparison. Heres how it works.

As I said before, legalism rests on two pillars, or legs, you might say. Legalism gets its first leg up, by attracting

our attention with ideal friends, men and women of God we respect highly. It then gets its other leg up, by

attracting our attention with ideal practices weve observed, read, or heard about from or through men and

women of God we respect highly. It stands up and gathers its strength, planting itself firm, and moves from

ideal (friends and practices) to idol when we begin comparing ourselves, our worth, our value, and derive our

security from those ideals.

Legalism subtly assumes the identity and form of ideal practices and ideal friends. But its true colors are

revealed in the way it presents itself. When I see a display of holiness in marriage, thats great! And when I

desire the same thing for my marriage, again, thats awesome.

BUT!...and this is a huge butwhen I suddenly begin comparing my marriage to my ideal friends and their

ideal marriage, legalism suddenly appears on the radar like a heat-seeking missile to destroy my conscience. To

be sure, its only just blipped my radar, and it threatens to lock on to destroy me. But theres still time to evade

it at this point.


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What happens more often than not, however, is that I dontevade that

missile. I commit the next grave error by mistaking the chameleon of

legalism, beautifully clothed with ideal friends and ideal practices, and

colored with the label of comparison, with what I only think God really

wants for me and my marriage. And with that, the chameleon of legalism

opens its mouth and spits its poison at me like a heat-seeking missile. The

poisonous missile is headed right for my conscience, and its markings

spellG.U.I.L.T.

To review then, I began by looking at my ideal friends, Gary and Cindy, and

loving the display of holiness and unity in their marriage through their

ideal practice, desiring it for myself. I then follow my looking with a

comparison that usually goes something like this in my head.

Gee wizSherri and I dont get up at 5:30 am every morning just to pray together. I remember

reading in several places in the gospels where Jesus would get up before the day started to spend

time in prayer. Im just getting up at 5:30 to get myself ready so I can wake up my kids and get

them ready for schooland get lunches packedand make sure homework papers aresignedand revisit the wrestling and boy scout schedule for the week, and...Oh, dangit! Were

gonna be late and we havent even finished breakfast yet! Aaaahhh!

So thats pretty much what Im thinking at this point. Seriously. And so is my wife, thanks to me who decided to

talk about what a great marriage Gary and Cindy have, leaving my wife with the impression that she too should

compare herself with Cindy in this whole deal.

Later in the day, after supper, Im thinking to myself,

Man, I would love to sit down and work through a Bible study with Sherri like Gary and Cindy

do. The apostle Paul talks in Ephesians 5 about how marriage should be a picture of Christ andthe church. Jesus loves the church, and the church loves Jesus and the communion they have

together is so sweet! I wish Sherri and I could have that kind of communionbut it doesnt feel

like we do when I think about Gary and Cindy. Oh, dang! I gotta supervise the kitchen cleanup,

take the dog for a walk, check the kids homework, get them bathed and showered, get their

teeth brushed, and in the bed, blessed to have a few minutes of personal prayer and blessing

time with each of them before it gets too late.

Do you see whats happening here in this very true story? The chameleon of legalism has projectile vomited on

me and has hit my heart. Then it begins to penetrate and soak into my conscience. It started with merely

observing and delighting. Then it moved to comparing my marriage with theirs. Then it killedme with guilt.

This is the very place, fellow warriors, where it all goes wrong for us. The heat-seeking missile of legalism

targets the guilt my conscience begins to feel, because I dont measure up to my ideal friends and their ideal

practices. And the missile toggles into turbo mode, hitting the target at warp speed, decimating me for the rest

of the evening.

Mymarriage will never be as holy as Gary and Cindys. Im so frustrated!!! Whats wrong with

my marriage? Whats wrong with mywife? Could it be that Sherri isnt as passionate for the

Lord as Cindy? If so, why? Maybe shes growing lukewarm? Or is itme? Could it be that Im not


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as disciplinedas Gary? He was a career military man, and he learned some great discipline

there. Maybe I should join the military. Im too hold to join the reserves. But I wonder if the

National Guard would take me? I could be a chaplain. I bet it would pay pretty good, too. We

could use the extra money. So I could work in the National Guard, learn discipline better to be

more godly like Gary, andmake some extra moolah.

Does any of this thought process sound familiar to you? (Please say yes to make me feel better, at least.)

Legalism is born when any comparison I make of my life to ideal friends or ideal practices leads my conscience to

experience guilt. The guilt I experience is not coming from any particular sin Ive committed against God. It

comes through comparing myself to someone or something else. And when that guilt turns to ruling my

thoughts and reforming my behavior, I am a servant to legalism.

Furthermore, legalism is a liar. It never apologizes for using lies to create a

measuring tool for my life. For example, consider how hilarious it is that

legalism never compared the other side of my life to the Perez family. Its

apples and oranges! Theirkids are grown and out of the house with families of

their own. All four of mine are still at home and need regular attention.Garys working on his second career, about to retire and collect a pension in

two more years. I dont even have a career. Garyhas time to spend at 5:30

am with his wife because there arent any kids to get ready for school. I dont

have that luxuryyet. Gary and Cindycan do a Bible study after dinner because theres no children to get ready

for bed, homework to check, etc.

Do you see how sneaky legalism is? It only uses certain facts with which to measure you. And it is incredibly

biased in which facts it chooses! It seems to only choose those facts that make me feel guilty, and not the ones

that make me see the full picture.

Hey! Now Im flippinmad! Why does legalism do that?! Why does it use my ideal friends andtheir ideal practices in a way that ends up destroying me?

For one simple reason. Its sole mission is always and forever to attempt to measure me, my value, and my

worth by creating a standard out of my ideal friends or ideal practicesrather than the finished work of Jesus

Christ for me.

I lived the first half of my life this wayevery day. I had no idea just how much of a servant or slave, more like

it to legalism I really was. Just about everything in my Christian life was centered on comparing what I did and

believed to the ideal practices or beliefs of my ideal friends. I watched them more closely than I watched my

Savior. I measured my life by theirlives more closely than I did by Jesus.

The difference between how I lived then and how I live now is simple, now.

When I measure my life by the lives and ideals of others, I live in guilt. But when I measure my life by the life

and ideals of Jesus, I live in joy. Why?

Because God has declared me not guilty and has said about me that I alreadymeasure up to His standard of

holiness through Jesus. When God saved me, He put me in the family of His Son, Jesus. I was put on Jesus


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team, and am now forever associated with Him, wearing His team jersey, living in His house, joining Him on His

mission, loving the things He loves.

And the Father now treats me like He treats His own Son, Jesus. He never condemns or guilts His Son, Jesus.

And Hell never do that to me either. Because Hes forgiven it allthrown it behind His back in the bottom of

the ocean. The Father loves me as much as He loves His own Son, Jesus. When He forgave me, He like a judge

passed the death penalty sentence on me, only to turn around and transfer that sentence on to His Son, who

substituted Himself for me, died from my death penalty, rose from the dead, pronounced me scot-free, then

adopted me, the real criminal, into His family and says Im one of His children forevermore! Speechless!

Breathtaking!

Yet look how easily legalism would have me be a criminal all over again! It constantly looks to put me back in

that prison, to steal my joy, by leading me to compare myself to ideal friends - godly people I respect - only to

use their lifestyle and ideal practices as a measuring stick for my lifein order to make me feel guiltyin order to

make me joylessin order to make me useless. Oh, how I HATE legalism!!!

The apostle Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 10 that , when they measure themselves by one another and

compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding (v. 12, ESV). To be sure, Paul has inmind specifically a group of false teachers called Judaizers who were constantly setting up these human

standards of measuring somebodys godliness. Paul is being sarcastic here, because he knows that the standard

they set up for themselves always seems to pass them with flying colors, while failing him miserably.

But we all act like Judaizers much of the timedefinitely towards othersand definitely towards ourselves. We

too set up our own human standards and measures, usually with other peoples holiness and success in the

Christian life. And when we dont measure up, we guilt and condemn ourselves into discouragement, disparity,

and eventually into depression. Meanwhile we are looking with suspicion upon those who live by grace,

supposing they dont desire holiness as much as we do. Suddenly, we are full-fledged, card-carrying Judaiziers,

almost like the ones who persecuted Paul for his message of grace.

Paul addressed these Judaizers in Galatians. In chapter 2, he wrote,

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in--who slipped in

to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they

might bring us into slavery-- to them we did not yield in submission

even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be

preserved for you (vv. 4-5, ESV).

And what is the gospel? It is a multitude of things, in Pauls writings. But

listen to how he phrases it a few verses later in the same chapter.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by

faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (v.

20, ESV).

The gospel or the good news is that I was somehow, mysteriously, supernaturally, but very truly put on the

cross with Jesus so that I died when He died. Now that Im dead, Im not living any longer. Rather, Jesus is living

in the part of me thats still alive. And the part of me thats still alive lives by faith in what Jesus did for me, and


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not in what I have done for Jesus (or can do for Him). Because its about how much He loved me and gave

Himself for me, and not the other way around.

When I think about Gary and Cindy now, I see Jesus living in them. They are still ideal friends. I see them living

their lives now by faith in the Son of God who loves them and gave Himself for them. They still have ideal

practices. I then praise God for it, and stop right there. They are notmyperfectfriends and they do not have

perfectpractices. Therefore, I do not compare myself any longer to them as the ideal, because they are not the

perfect standard. King Jesus holds that position. And that should hold my attentionmore than Gary and Cindy

do.

And if I do happen to slip into comparing myself to them, or comparing my marriage to theirs, I shoot down the

conscience-seeking missile of legalism by recalling the truth that I am already declared holy by God Himself. He

has already set His seal of approval on my marriage, because of what King Jesus has done for me.

Now, if theres anything, truehonorablejustpurelovelycommendable, if there is any excellence, if there

is anything worthy of praise as Philippians 4:8 says, Ill think about these things. It may be that I end up

putting some of these ideal practices into effect in my own life and marriage, as far as I am able. And Im quite

certain that when I do, I will be helped tremendously.

But I will NOT compare myself to them or judge myself by them. That place is reserved

for King Jesus alone.

And if I should happen to forget this, so that the missile of legalism strikes and explodes

my heart with guilt and condemnation, the cleanup crew a.k.a. the Holy Spirit comes

and applies the finished work of Jesus to my mess, thereby forgiving my failure (to look at

Him rather than my friends), renewing a right attitude within me, and restoring to me the

joy of my salvation.

Dear friends, let us expose legalism for what it really is a conspiratorial sham by theenemy to enslave us to guilt and despair so that we are useless for the mission God has

called us to. And having exposed it, lets unite together in our families and in our local churches to put an end to

Idyllic Christianity. Let us do so by a purposeful and intentional effort to stop looking more at the lives of other

godly people you respect, more than you look at the life and work of Jesus for you. Unless you do this, you will

continue to live like I did for so many years, manufacturing idols out of ideals. And ideals become idols when I

measure my value, worth and purpose by them rather than by Gods declaration about me.

Down with idealistic Christianity! Away with measuring and comparing ourselves with others people! Forget

comparing yourself to ideas and ideals any longer. Look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. Lift high

King Jesus as the standard for your life and godliness from this day forth.

Amen!

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How I'm Trying to Handle Idyllic Christianity